Christmas Eve
by Madzandflowerz31
Summary: The Blacklist: Season 3 One Shot. Lizzie is exonerated and the Cabal is gone. Now, Lizzie is trying to get her life back to how it was before everything happened. She especially wants to fix things with Ressler. He was the last person she expected to be at her front door on Christmas Eve. I DO NOT OWN THE BLACKLIST OR ANYTHING IN RELATION TO THE BLACKLIST.


**Christmas Eve**

If you were to ask me how I was going to spend Christmas Eve four months ago, I would have thought I would be spending it with my husband and newborn child at home. We would be drinking eggnog, eating way too much food, and taking turns holding our newborn son, starting our own Christmas traditions as a family. A normal, happy family.

That is not the case today.

Over the past four months, I found out my husband was a secret spy who Reddington installed into my life to keep an eye on me for his own interest. I never adopted Jenny's baby… my son. One minute I was working on a case, the next I am the most wanted fugitive in the United States. My partner, feeling like he needed to, set out a man hunt trying to capture me and Red when we ran from the law. The Cabal turned the whole country against me. No one trusted me.

Strange, however, when Ressler captured me, I was given a fair hearing and all charges against me were dropped. The Cabal seemed to disappear into thin air. As if nothing ever happened.

That doesn't mean everything went completely back to normal.

I wasn't allowed to go back to work until this case was completely sealed and closed. Aram threw a fit about that one, but the FBI field office thought it was best. They wanted this to go away as quickly as it was forced upon them.

To be honest, I was happy with their decision. How could I go back into a room full of people who hunted me down as if I was someone on Reddington's list? With every means necessary and with any available source at their disposal? My own colleagues were turned against me. Even after it ended, they still stare and judge me. They didn't understand the actions I was forced to take to prove my innocence.

The worst part was figuring out how Ressler and I could continue how we used to be before all of this? I knew we weren't ready. I could guess it wouldn't be anytime soon. He has been fighting so many of his own personal demons and I know this whole thing did nothing to help resolve it. As far as I know, everything about me was a lie. How do you heal from that?

These series of events leads me to where I am now.

It's the night of Christmas Eve. It's snowing outside and the streets are filled with Christmas Carolers, last minute shoppers, and shiny lights _everywhere_. I'm sitting on the couch in the apartment Red got me a while back, drinking the biggest bottle of wine I could find. It seems tonight I will be spending Christmas Eve alone.

Aram and Samar traveled to Aram's hometown to spend Christmas together. Cooper and Charlene rented a cabin outside the city. I was happy for them. They deserved a break just as much as the rest of us.

Ressler and I haven't spoken a whole lot since I was exonerated. Neither one of us knew who should start. It was uncomfortable passing each other at work. I didn't know how to fix our friendship or work relationship. So it came as a shock when I look down at my cell phone and the caller I.D displayed Ressler's name.

I answered, "Hello?"

"Uh, hey Liz. Are you at your apartment?"

"Depends… why?"

"Because I'm at your door."

 _What the hell?_ Disregarding my outfit, which is a long sleeve, navy blue nightshirt and white pajama pants, I rush to the door. I open the door and it reveals a snow covered Ressler, still in his work suit. In one hand, he has a six-pack of beer and the other contains a takeout bag from Wing-Yees. His cell phone is still tucked under his ear and shoulder. He smiles and says, "Hey Liz."

Reaching for his phone to help him out, I give a shy smile and say, "Hey Ressler."

"We aren't at work Liz, you can call me Don."

"Okay… Don," I smirk. He responds with a small smile. Before I can ask him his reason for standing at my door with food and drinks he asks, "Can I spend Christmas Eve with you?"

Before I can even process the question or realize what I am doing, I quickly step aside and allow him to come inside. He walks past me and heads to the counter to lay the food and beer down. I follow him, slightly intrigued he already knows how to navigate around my apartment.

"What's all this about?" I am still slightly confused as to why he is here.

He turns around to face me and answers, "Well, I knew Red was handling business in Germany and I knew you would be here alone…" He coughs and looks down at his feet before continuing, "And this is my first Christmas without Audrey so I really don't want to think about that. "

He suddenly looks up at me and says, "I was walking home when I passed by Wing-Yees." He turns and gestures towards the bag, "And one thing led to another, and now I am here."

I completely forgot about Audrey, how painful it would be spending Christmas without her. He doesn't want to be alone.

Honestly, I don't want to be either.

"Well, I'm honored." I gave him my best smile.

We unpack the food, he pops open a beer, I grab my half drunk bottle of wine and we head to the couch.

For the next hour, we eat and drink and the awkward tension slowly melts away. We finally talked about everything. We told each other how we felt about the whole Cabal situation. I understand how he feels and why he did what he did. I explained myself too. After all, I am the reason all of this happened.

He holds nothing against me and I don't against him. When we finished, he leaned towards me and hugged me. His warm, tight embrace felt comforting and welcoming. I think we both feel better. We couldn't have avoided that conversation forever and I am glad we can finally move on and focus on what we do next.

After we clear away the empty Chinese containers, Ressler curses under his breath.

"I'm such a dumbass. It's Christmas Eve and I didn't get you anything."

A brilliant idea crossed my mind, knowing how to fix this "issue."

"Yes you did." He looks slightly confused as I walk into the kitchen and open the bottom drawer to find a bright, green bow and dark, red bow I had leftover from Christmas last year. I knew how to put them to good use this time.

I walk up to him, peel the plastic off the back, and stick the red bow on his forehead. He tries to hide his smile as I do the same to the green bow and stick it onto my forehead.

"See? You are my gift and I am yours!" His smile breaks into laughter.

"Oh Liz, you have a solution for everything, don't ya?"

I look up into his eyes and shrug my shoulders, smiling because I am glad he still has his humor.

He reaches down to tuck my hair behind my ear and says, "My gift is perfect."

I blush as red as his bow. "As is mine."

We spend the rest of the evening watching Christmas movies, cuddled up with each other on the couch enjoying each other's company on this Christmas Eve.

 **Notes:**

Y'all, I know it is June 2018, but I wrote this back in December of 2015! I realize I am super late posting it! LOL

This was one of the first fanfics I had ever written, so I figured I'd share! Also, Christmas is 6 months away. Hallelujah.

As always, feedback is appreciated!

Thank you so much for reading!


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